Rewinding "Supernatural"

99 Problems

This week’s episode of “Supernatural” opened frantically, with Dean driving the Impala away from a mysterious possessed crowd that is around a burning barn. Just when it looks like he and a wounded Sam are surrounded, a holy water-spraying truck pulls up. It is being driven by a mystery man who is shouting exorcism incantations through a megaphone. Once the demons are gone, he identifies himself as Rob, a member of the “Sacrament Lutheran Militia”, who is trying to fend off the apocalypse.

A puzzled Sam and Dean then meet the fellow members of his group, a small town whose citizens know all about the end of days and demon hunting. Rob introduces them to David Gideon, the pistol-packing pastor. In turn he introduces them to his wife, Jane, son, Dylan, and daughter Leah, who is a prophet. Apparently, Leah received visions from angels who told the townspeople all about the impending apocalypse. These same visions told her where demons are and how to get rid of them, and in fact, there is some in the local woods at that moment. After the brothers and the townspeople destroy a demon hoard in a poorly shot battle at an abandoned house, Dylan oddly asks Sam and Dean for a ride. As the townspeople drive away, another possessed demon kills Dylan in a surprise attack.

This is when we start to see the even darker side of things, as Jane blames the Winchesters for her son’s death at his funeral. Then Leah convulses and predicts that Dylan will come back from the dead, resurrected after Heaven wins the battle and they, as the chosen people, live in paradise. However, if not everyone follows the angels’ strict moral guide, then the whole town is doomed. That night, Sam strikes up a friendship with Paul, a doubting bartender who criticizes the hypocritical nature of the people. When asked if he’s a believer, Sam says yes, but “God stopped caring a long time ago”.

He’s not the only one losing his faith, a drunken, then hung-over Castiel shows up at the boys’ hotel room. The only thing that remains unchanged about him is his troubles with cell phones. (“I don’t understand why you want me to say my name”, he says on a voicemail.) Castiel has big news: Leah is not a prophet. She’s actually one of the signs of the apocalypse, a false prophet known as “the whore of Babylon”. Her job is to use good intentions to drag good people down into Hell and the only way she can be defeated is to be stabbed with a Cypress branch by a “true servant of Heaven”. The only person befitting of that title there is Pastor Gideon.

Meanwhile, Leah tells the people that the angels are angry because someone is breaking the rules. She convinces Jane to kill Paul, but doesn’t stop there. Soon all of the “sinners” in town, including children, are thrown into a storage shed that she demands be set on fire. Pastor Gideon is starting to have doubts about her, so it really doesn’t take much effort for Sam, Dean, and Castiel to convince him of what he must do.

The three ambush Leah when she’s alone, but she escapes and turns the townspeople against them. This doesn’t last long, because everyone sees her super-human grip around Dean’s throat. Gasping for breath, he grasps the Cypress branch and kills her. Wondering why it happened, Sam asks Dean if he’s actually Michael. Dean says no, but he speeds off in the Impala.

Nothing is mentioned for no reason on “Supernatural”, so when the “previously on” clip show reminded us about Lisa, Dean’s former girlfriend that he may or may have not gotten pregnant; I knew it was done for a reason. Dean showed up at her door and tells her, “When I do picture myself happy, it’s with you and the kid”. He warns her that some bad things are going to happen in the next couple of days, but not to worry because he is going to meet with some people that will make things okay for her and the boy. Therefore, I’m left wondering what that exactly means for next week’s show, the much hyped about hundredth episode.

While I’m glad to see the apocalypse plot advancing, several plot holes made this episode messy. What will happen to the townspeople? Why would the false prophet afflict such a small town? Why didn’t Dean choose to say goodbye to Ben? There were other weak moments, too. Dean annoyingly referred to God as a “deadbeat dad” again and the show’s lack of good lighting made some scenes hard to follow. Still, the episode made me anxious to see what happens next week.